Sunshine and coppicing

The sun is shining, we're down to shirts and yesterday I actually managed to get sunburned in March! It's been a busy week as usual. On Monday I took a group of volunteers over to Brompton to finish planting up a new hedge line and cutting out elder from an established hedge .

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View of Cronkhill from the newly-planted hedge

 On Tuesday I worked with Seamus, one of our regular contractors, and volunteer Pete to cut up two willow trees that had fallen over into a field before helping two other vol's to shift some wood and logs.



Pete and Buster take a break from sawing willow





Now you see it...





Now you don't!



Wednesday was spent up on Wenlock Edge with a large volunteer group, coppicing hazel and ash and making stakes and binders out of the cut material. Hedgelaying season is over now but the binders will be used over the next week to bind all of the hedges that have been laid this winter, while the stakes will be stored away until next September when we can begin to lay again. The trailer was full to the brim by the end of the day, over 200 stakes and 200 binders. Excellent work from the team!





Twitter

Just a quick note to point you in the direction of the Attingham Park Twitter page, where you will find regular updates of what's going on from all departments - Attingham Twitter page

Meanwhile, it is the first day of the full open season tomorrow with the Mansion beginning its seven-days-a-week opening. Come and have a look at what they've been up to all winter!

Hedgeplanting at Brompton



Adam plants up a hedge

This week some of the warden volunteers have been working near the Brompton Cookery School, removing old fences and planting up new hedge lines while I cut out the elder that was choking an existing hedge. The elder stumps are treated to prevent regrowth, and the gaps in the hedge then replanted with other species - hawthorn, hazel, field maple and dogrose. It's a beautiful part of the estate with views looking back at the Attingham mansion, St Eatas church in Atcham and Cronkhill, a neighbouring Trust property.



Brian removes fencing wire from the posts





Cutting out elder from the hedge



Meanwhile, another team has been hedgelaying along the field opposite the Atcham Industrial Estate and doing a fantastic job. The hedge has not been laid before so has been ideal to teach new volunteers the art of hedgelaying. We get our hazel stakes and binders from Wenlock Edge, another NT site, and use them to lay in the 'Midland bullock' style - upright stakes, one clean side and one brash side, and bound along the top. There are just a few weeks left to complete the hedge as by the end of March, the trees are beginning to bud and bird nesting season starts.